This invention relates to devices for transporting or otherwise carrying small animals about, and more specifically to an apparatus for supporting the trunk of a small animal while the animal is picked up and carried about.
In densely populated sections of major metropolitan areas, high-rise apartment and condominium complexes do not provide lawns or garden areas in which owners of pets (specifically small dogs) may take these small animals on occasional walks outdoors. In order to walk the dog, the owner must take the dog to a nearby park or recreational area, sometimes a few blocks away, frequently crossing vehicular traffic intersections, and occasionally during inclement weather, necessitating that the small animal be carried at least a part of the way to and from the "walking" area. Heretofore, owners of small pets almost invariably soiled their own clothing by picking up the small pet in the conventional manner, (i.e., by grasping the small pet around its trunk and carrying the pet upon the pet owner's bosom or attempting to cradle the pet, feet down, in one arm while holding the pet with the opposite hand) after the pet had walked around the park or other recreational area or otherwise soiled its feet in wet or muddy areas of the walkway.
Accordingly, it has been considered highly desirable to provide a device that enables the pet owner to pick up the pet and carry the pet about conveniently and easily in a manner such that the pet's soiled feet never need come in contact with the pet owner's clothing. More importantly, however, it has been desirable to provide a device which provides even support across the entire underside of the trunk of a small pet while the pet is being transported about, in order to avoid the lifting or carrying force from being concentrated in a number of small contact areas along the pet's underside. It has also been highly desirable to provide a device in which the pet may be comfortably carried about, which device also enables th pet owner to easily restrain the pet from attacking other pets when a number of small animals are in close proximity (i.e., in a veterinary clinic waiting room).